When I read that a third Joomla! Community has been created, I couldn't help but wonder "why?". I think I know the answer, but it's not a good one. I understand that some people were not pleased with how things went down at DutchJoomla. I also know that those same people feel too "different" from JoomlaCommunity to join them instead.

I wish you the best of luck on your new duplication effort. Sure, more could be achieved if you all cooperated and bundled your forces. But where is the fun in that? You're right, you need three different forums for one language group. After all, your differences are so big you'll never get along.  It's not like you have something in common. A common passion for something for example. Like Joomla!

Personally. I don't agree with how everything is done inside JoomlaCommunity, either. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to start my own BelgiumJoomla! forum - I could do that, but there would be no point in doing so. Why would I want to do the same work someone else is already doing? Because I can?

You might try to justify the need for another forum, but let's face it. This is not the best way to handle things inside the dutch Joomla! Community. I've had some experience with communities "forking". What you end up with is two communities working at 60% instead of one strong community working at 100%.  Think about it, it's not like there are millions of Dutch Joomla! users.

Do yourself a favor, and arrange a meeting. See if the water is really as deep as you might think it is.  See what you can do to avoid duplicating efforts. You might think you're doing the Dutch Joomla! users a favor, but maybe, just maybe, you aren't.

We all love Joomla! and we all want to promote it in the Netherlands and Belgium. So, why don't we collaborate instead of compete? Just think about it, okay?

Kind Regards,

STeven Zeegers, a dutch speaking Joomla! user.